I checked the SA site and i don't see it for sale. Reason i want to buy it is i'd rather own one than rent it. I have Time Warner cable and rent is $17 for the box. Is it even recommended to own it? If i can buy an HD DVR, what would you recommend?
Can you buy SA8300HD DVR or any other HD DVR?
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
Not unless you live in Canada, where the consumer purchases the STB. Most, if not all cable co's in the US(certainly all the major ones) will NOT authorize a box that isn't owned by them and rented to the consumer. This is for obvious reasons, since they can be opened and hacked.
Your choices are those 2 discontinued Sony models(I can't think of the model names, just do a quick poke around this thread, you'll find them), but they are based off the old analog TVGuide OnScreen service.
Or the Tivo S3, which runs ~$600 on sale this month I think, which will require 2 cable cards. While the cards themselves are free to rent, the first one is probably free but the 2nd one probably requires some kind of fee for an "additional outlet". Plus a monthy fee for the TiVo service, right?
Sucks as it may, but renting the box from the cableco at least lets you swap it if you have problems. Fees per month for the 2nd cablecard and Tivo probably make it about the cost of the DVR montly rental, plus you are out several hundred for the unit!
Not unless you live in Canada, where the consumer purchases the STB. Most, if not all cable co's in the US(certainly all the major ones) will NOT authorize a box that isn't owned by them and rented to the consumer. This is for obvious reasons, since they can be opened and hacked.
Your choices are those 2 discontinued Sony models(I can't think of the model names, just do a quick poke around this thread, you'll find them), but they are based off the old analog TVGuide OnScreen service.
Or the Tivo S3, which runs ~$600 on sale this month I think, which will require 2 cable cards. While the cards themselves are free to rent, the first one is probably free but the 2nd one probably requires some kind of fee for an "additional outlet". Plus a monthy fee for the TiVo service, right?
Sucks as it may, but renting the box from the cableco at least lets you swap it if you have problems. Fees per month for the 2nd cablecard and Tivo probably make it about the cost of the DVR montly rental, plus you are out several hundred for the unit!
Joined
·
21,216 Posts
Actually, the 'lifetime' thing is a thing of the past. That all ended shortly after the first of the year, and even then only lifetime subscriptions already in place could be transferred to the TiVo HD DVR, the Series3.
I gather that a lot of HTPCs are very good but they are also very expensive, far more expensive that an S3, even with the subscription, and with a much steeper learning curve. For someone who wants a simple and convenient solution without a steep learning curve, the S3 is a better choice, it seems to me. From a purely economic perspective, renting a cable company box is the only way to go, I believe: Pay the cable company about 10 bucks a month and their box is yours, with a guaranteed replacement in the wings should the first box fail.
I got an S3 right after the first of the year to replace an SA 8300HD that I had been renting from Cox OKC. Although, as noted, the S3 makes little economic sense, it is absolutely wonderful and I don't resent a penny of its price. I love it, love it, love it! Try it, you'll like it.
![]()
EDIT: Typo corrected.
Actually, the 'lifetime' thing is a thing of the past. That all ended shortly after the first of the year, and even then only lifetime subscriptions already in place could be transferred to the TiVo HD DVR, the Series3.
I gather that a lot of HTPCs are very good but they are also very expensive, far more expensive that an S3, even with the subscription, and with a much steeper learning curve. For someone who wants a simple and convenient solution without a steep learning curve, the S3 is a better choice, it seems to me. From a purely economic perspective, renting a cable company box is the only way to go, I believe: Pay the cable company about 10 bucks a month and their box is yours, with a guaranteed replacement in the wings should the first box fail.
I got an S3 right after the first of the year to replace an SA 8300HD that I had been renting from Cox OKC. Although, as noted, the S3 makes little economic sense, it is absolutely wonderful and I don't resent a penny of its price. I love it, love it, love it! Try it, you'll like it.
EDIT: Typo corrected.
The option to pay Lifetime on a TiVo box ended a year ago last month. The option to transfer Lifetime from an existing unit to a S3 officially ended in late February, but I see people on TCF who say they've been able to transfer Lifetime after that date.
I saw a thread on one of Cable Forums on SatGuys about a Samsung HD box, not DVR, for cable. Seems like a DVR would be a minor step after that.
The option to pay Lifetime on a TiVo box ended a year ago last month. The option to transfer Lifetime from an existing unit to a S3 officially ended in late February, but I see people on TCF who say they've been able to transfer Lifetime after that date.
I saw a thread on one of Cable Forums on SatGuys about a Samsung HD box, not DVR, for cable. Seems like a DVR would be a minor step after that.
Joined
·
21,216 Posts
Yep, anytime I post anything about TiVo here, I think, This is AVS Forum, not TiVo Community Forum, filter, filter! Otherwise I fear that my TiVo enthusiasm might cause even the highly knowledgeable HT mavens who post here to tune me out.
![]()
Quote:
Originally Posted by bidger /forum/post/0
Force of habit.![]()
Yep, anytime I post anything about TiVo here, I think, This is AVS Forum, not TiVo Community Forum, filter, filter! Otherwise I fear that my TiVo enthusiasm might cause even the highly knowledgeable HT mavens who post here to tune me out.
Joined
·
752 Posts
For the price of almost just the monthly tivo guide fee, you can rent a cable dvr and NOT need costly initial investment of $600-$1000, for Sat hd dvr, and NEVER need to worry of repair costs and replacement cost if the unit should fail.
Let the cable company bear the high equipment costs and replacement costs for failed units.
I think renting a HD DVR is the BEST deal in town at the moment!
Thank God cable companies aren't smart enough to force us to actually have to buy them to use on their system, boy that would suck for us!
I used the SA8000 DVR for about a year and a half till I finally got an HD TV set, and upgrading my box to a SA8300 HD DVR, was as simple as unscrewing it, and walking into replacement center for a new HD unit. Didn't cost me a penny out of pocket to upgrade equipment. Now if I had bought my own SA8000, I would be out that money now, and have had to shell out more to buy a new HD DVR.
So now when next new technology comes around, 1080P digital cable? whatever, just guessing, I can just upgrade again for free. How can you beat that by buying your own box? You still will probably get charged a guide fee, so most you'd save is $5 a month rental fee. See how much better it is to rent these gadgets?
AnthonyNYC
For the price of almost just the monthly tivo guide fee, you can rent a cable dvr and NOT need costly initial investment of $600-$1000, for Sat hd dvr, and NEVER need to worry of repair costs and replacement cost if the unit should fail.
Let the cable company bear the high equipment costs and replacement costs for failed units.
I think renting a HD DVR is the BEST deal in town at the moment!
Thank God cable companies aren't smart enough to force us to actually have to buy them to use on their system, boy that would suck for us!
I used the SA8000 DVR for about a year and a half till I finally got an HD TV set, and upgrading my box to a SA8300 HD DVR, was as simple as unscrewing it, and walking into replacement center for a new HD unit. Didn't cost me a penny out of pocket to upgrade equipment. Now if I had bought my own SA8000, I would be out that money now, and have had to shell out more to buy a new HD DVR.
So now when next new technology comes around, 1080P digital cable? whatever, just guessing, I can just upgrade again for free. How can you beat that by buying your own box? You still will probably get charged a guide fee, so most you'd save is $5 a month rental fee. See how much better it is to rent these gadgets?
AnthonyNYC
Joined
·
21,216 Posts
I have used the Scientific Atlanta 8000HD and 8300HD boxes in my home since Cox OKC first introduced them in 2004. I had two 8300HDs, one of which I replaced with a TiVo Series3 shortly after the first of the year.
As noted above, they are cheap and reasonably reliable but, on balance, they still stink, at least those using the perfectly awful SARA software do. Still, I agree that a cable company HD DVR, crippled though it is, is a better value than an S3.
So why did I buy an S3 despite its exponentially higher price? I did it because it is vastly superior to the SA boxes in every way but price. There are a lot of reasons why, which I won't rehash here but trust me on this. For those interested in some of the details, check out the S3 thread here , and the S3 forum over at TiVo Community forum, here .
The S3 makes more sense than ever now because TiVo introduced a $200 rebate program this week. Try it you'll like it. Some folks at TiVo Community Forum have done an analysis of the cost differential between renting a box and buying an S3 at the new, lower price and the amortized cost differential over three years makes the S3 only about $10 or less a month more expensive than a cable company DVR. At that price, most folks can afford to get the best, it seems to me.
I should add that TiVo has made deals with Comcast and Cox to license its software for use on those companies' boxes. Unfortunately the deal has been moving with glacial slowness as not a single box with TiVo software has shipped. Worse, the first TiVo software will rollout to Motorola boxes only and there is no indication that TiVo has even started work on software to run on SA boxes.
If the TiVo partnerships with Comcast and Cox prove to be a success then we may finally have access to HD DVRs that do everything a DVR should at a reasonable price. Until then, we are faced with having to make a choice between flawed alternatives
I have used the Scientific Atlanta 8000HD and 8300HD boxes in my home since Cox OKC first introduced them in 2004. I had two 8300HDs, one of which I replaced with a TiVo Series3 shortly after the first of the year.
As noted above, they are cheap and reasonably reliable but, on balance, they still stink, at least those using the perfectly awful SARA software do. Still, I agree that a cable company HD DVR, crippled though it is, is a better value than an S3.
So why did I buy an S3 despite its exponentially higher price? I did it because it is vastly superior to the SA boxes in every way but price. There are a lot of reasons why, which I won't rehash here but trust me on this. For those interested in some of the details, check out the S3 thread here , and the S3 forum over at TiVo Community forum, here .
The S3 makes more sense than ever now because TiVo introduced a $200 rebate program this week. Try it you'll like it. Some folks at TiVo Community Forum have done an analysis of the cost differential between renting a box and buying an S3 at the new, lower price and the amortized cost differential over three years makes the S3 only about $10 or less a month more expensive than a cable company DVR. At that price, most folks can afford to get the best, it seems to me.
I should add that TiVo has made deals with Comcast and Cox to license its software for use on those companies' boxes. Unfortunately the deal has been moving with glacial slowness as not a single box with TiVo software has shipped. Worse, the first TiVo software will rollout to Motorola boxes only and there is no indication that TiVo has even started work on software to run on SA boxes.
If the TiVo partnerships with Comcast and Cox prove to be a success then we may finally have access to HD DVRs that do everything a DVR should at a reasonable price. Until then, we are faced with having to make a choice between flawed alternatives
Joined
·
21,216 Posts
Actually, the TiVo S3 does have the capability of accepting an eSATA (external) hard drive up to 1Tb. With a recording capacity of 1.25Tb, (1Tb external plus 250Gb internal) not many folks are going to worry much about archiving content, it seems to me. A lot of people are now adding 500 and 750Gb and 1Tb eSata drives to their S3s and have been very happy with them. There is a FAQ and thread at TiVo Community Forum, here , that tells about it.
As noted in an earlier post, I have used SA 8000HD and 8300HD boxes for years and still have an 8300HD on one of my HDTVs. That experience has taught me that when it comes to features and usability the 8300HD is not in the same world with a TiVo S3. I guess those who haven't had the TiVo experience will have to trust me on this.
![]()
Actually, the TiVo S3 does have the capability of accepting an eSATA (external) hard drive up to 1Tb. With a recording capacity of 1.25Tb, (1Tb external plus 250Gb internal) not many folks are going to worry much about archiving content, it seems to me. A lot of people are now adding 500 and 750Gb and 1Tb eSata drives to their S3s and have been very happy with them. There is a FAQ and thread at TiVo Community Forum, here , that tells about it.
As noted in an earlier post, I have used SA 8000HD and 8300HD boxes for years and still have an 8300HD on one of my HDTVs. That experience has taught me that when it comes to features and usability the 8300HD is not in the same world with a TiVo S3. I guess those who haven't had the TiVo experience will have to trust me on this.
Joined
·
267 Posts
Just built a new HTPC (AMD X2 4800+) for ~600 which includes a tuner. No extra monthly fee also .
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat /forum/post/0
Actually, the 'lifetime' thing is a thing of the past. That all ended shortly after the first of the year, and even then only lifetime subscriptions already in place could be transferred to the TiVo HD DVR, the Series3.
I gather that a lot of HTPCs are very good but they are also very expensive, far more expensive that an S3, even with the subscription, and with a much steeper learning curve. For someone who wants a simple and convenient solution without a steep learning curve, the S3 is a better choice, it seems to me. From a purely economic perspective, renting a cable company box is the only way to go, I believe: Pay the cable company about 10 bucks a month and their box is yours, with a guaranteed replacement in the wings should the first box fail.
I got an S3 right after the first of the year to replace an SA 8300HD that I had been renting from Cox OKC. Although, as noted, the S3 makes little economic sense, it is absolutely wonderful and I don't resent a penny of its price. I love it, love it, love it! Try it, you'll like it.![]()
EDIT: Typo corrected.
Just built a new HTPC (AMD X2 4800+) for ~600 which includes a tuner. No extra monthly fee also .
1 - 13 of 13 Posts
Join the discussion
